(JWR) --- (http://www.jewishworldreview.com) AT LAST, the kind of partisanship we can use!

Last week, with the impeachment trial proceeding and his political life on
the line, Bill Clinton made a fateful choice. He threw off pretensions of
being a New Democrat and used his State of the Union Address to make the
case for adventurous, big-government liberalism.

Depending on how one does the calculating, he proposed anywhere between 75
and 85 new programs. He crammed so much into the talk that the White House
distributed a 23-page small-print summary of what served as the basis for
the president's 16-page, regular-type speech.

The president clearly views government as an instrument of salvation. He
considers no personal crisis too small to command some share of Uncle Sam's
time or the people's money. In that spirit, he proposed large things, such
as ironing out the business cycle and putting a damper on global warming,
and small stuff, such as producing "rapid response" teams to sweep into a
town whenever a business shuts down.

He embraced the left on many fronts, especially the quest to broaden
Washington's role in local schools, but he also threw scraps to Republicans
in the form of defense-spending hikes.

Most breathtaking was his attempt to tie up every spare penny the
government will take in over the next 15 years. He proposed about $2
trillion in new spending and another $2 trillion or so to prop up Medicare
and Social Security. He even floated the idea of letting the federal
government become the largest and most influential investor in the nation's
stock markets.

It merits mention that virtually none of this stuff has any chance of
passage. Congress won't turn Wall Street into the last refuge of political
hacks. Nor will Republicans stand for many of the more aggressive
suggestions proffered in Clinton's speech.

In that sort of principled gridlock lies the hope of reviving political
idealism. Washington has become vicious as it has become more idle. There is
a biological explanation for this. Lawmakers are a peculiar species. As a
general rule, they store up vast troves of nervous energy and must be able
to work it off regularly. It takes incredible stamina to run for office and
carry out the endless duties incumbent upon lawmakers -- from greeting
constituents to slapping backs at numerous and endless receptions.

If honorables cannot lavish attention upon matters of policy or state, they
will turn toward the sport of destroying each other. The president plays the
dominant role in setting the tone. He supplies intellectual grist by
drafting legislation. The old saw notes of the law that a president proposes
and Congress disposes.

Unfortunately, the Clinton administration took a powder after the
health-care debacle of 1993-94. It continually presented legislators with a
dust storm of small and uninteresting bilge, giving character assassins
ample encouragement to ply their craft.

The impeachment trial marks the apogee of this trend. But once the Senate
has lanced the boil, tempers will settle and politicos will try to restore
some sense of collegiality.

The impeachment trial's final verdict, no matter what it is, also will mark
the beginning of the end of Bill Clinton's political relevance. Democrats
are fighting not so much for their president as for their party. They know
they must survive after he leaves the stage. They also know that his removal
could provoke an electoral wipeout.

Ironically, the State of the Union address supplied a convenient device for
soothing frayed nerves. It challenged solons to debate how government can
best promote brotherhood, decency, security and prosperity.

The president proposed the most assertive government in American history.
That stirred Old Democrat hearts, and recalled the venturesome rhetoric and
politics of FDR and LBJ. It also jolted Republicans back to attention. Sen.
Pete Domenici, often a staunch opponent of tax cuts, quickly urged Congress
to pare federal income taxes by $600 billion over the next five years.

Others in the GOP talked openly of taking a hatchet again to federal
spending and letting workers keep their money. Not since the Reagan era have
Republicans talked so openly or eloquently about the importance of placing
fetters on Uncle Sam.

This is the kind of partisanship we desperately need. Politicians come and
go, and so do disputes over what kind of people they are. But at the heart
of any democracy lies the challenge of performing good deeds without
stripping people of their money and freedom. This year's State of the Union
Address, with its applause lines and eye-popping promises, put that debate
back at the center of our political
life.